Month: November 2014

This didn't get into my original review of Interstellar, but I wanted to share it anyway. In the much less ambitious but far more enjoyable sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day (from 1996), evil aliens attack Earth with the intention to wipe out the human race and make our planet their own. Their motive: They mistreated their … Continue reading One more quick thought about Interstellar

I saw two very different movies on Saturday, but both were about physics. Well, sort of. Physics and fiction don't blend together unless you can work in suspense, romance, tragedy, horrible diseases, and special effects. Although one movie is a big, expensive Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, and the other a British Indiewood biopic, their titles are … Continue reading Physics Saturday: Interstellar and The Theory of Everything

No festivals this week. But we do have some movies. B+ The Cranes Are Flying, Pacific Film Archive, Friday, 5:30. War has a nasty way to interfering with true love. This sweet Russian story of young lovers separated by The Great Patriotic War (AKA World War II) never comes off as Soviet propaganda (it was … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 28 – December 4

Have you seen the Castro's Coming Soon page? Some interesting stuff coming up in December. Regular readers know that I disapprove of all the brouhaha over Gone with the Wind's 75th anniversary. I find it upsetting that a film so racist can be a beloved classic in the 21st century, with very little discussion of … Continue reading December at the Castro

The end-of-the-year film festival draught approaches. A lot of festivals ended last week. Only three are still running, and they'll close before Thanksgiving. New Italian Cinema continues through Sunday The Chinese American Film Festival continues through Tuesday And The French Had A Name For It: comes back in a Redux version, opening today and running … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 21 – 27

B+ Historical drama Written and directed by A.J. Edwards About half way through A.J. Edwards' gentle exploration of our 16th president (and my namesake), it occurred to me that a native-born American who hadn't paid much attention in history class might not realize that the film was about Abraham Lincoln. Names are seldom spoken, and … Continue reading The Better Angels